NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Harvick Enjoys ‘Perfect’ Day
Kevin Harvick and his Richard Childress Racing No. 29 team won on the last lap at Talladega...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted April 25, 2010   Talladega, AL
Kevin Harvick (Left), DeLana Harvick (Center) and team owner Richard Childress (Right) celebrate in victory lane at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
On very rare occasions, a racing team’s strategy and design for a particular race day evolve with perfection.

LINK> UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: Aaron's 499 - TALLADEGA

Sunday was that day for Kevin Harvick and his Richard Childress Racing No. 29 team.

Putting himself in the best position to challenge for the victory, Harvick passed Jamie McMurray in the final dash along the Talladega Superspeedway trioval and won Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 Sprint Cup race.

“Whatever we tried to do worked,” said Gil Martin, Harvick’s crew chief. “For the most part, everything went exactly as planned, and those days don’t happen very much.”

Harvick and Martin decided to run near the rear of the pack much of the day, in part because Harvick has raced near the front at Talladega in recent years and often has been in the middle of wild accidents.

On Sunday, Harvick drafted along in comfort for much of the day, then teamed with McMurray and others to draft up through the field with about 50 laps remaining.

Harvick hoped to be in second place as he approached the checkered flag, and that’s exactly what happened. He was planted on leader McMurray’s bumper as they swept out of the fourth turn for the final time.

In practice Friday and during the race Sunday, Harvick practiced the slick move he planned to use to jump from second to first, and that, too, worked to perfection. He dropped to the inside as McMurray’s car bobbled a bit, and they drag-raced to the finish.

Harvick won by .011 of a second, the eighth closest Sprint Cup finish since NASCAR began using electronic scoring in 1993.

“I think in practice you saw a lot of guys practicing that, and you have basically one move,” Harvick said. “As long as you stayed against their bumper, you were able to shoot past them. Then, as you shot past them, it slowed them down and then you could stay ahead for several hundred feet.

“It just worked out absolutely perfect on the timing side of it.”

The super-competitive race produced 88 lead changes and 29 different leaders – both series records.

It also produced – for the first time in the series – three green-white-checkered runs as big crashes ended the first two attempts. That extended the race to 200 laps, the longest event in speedway history.

Harvick hadn’t won a Sprint Cup points race since the 2007 Daytona 500, and RCR hadn’t visited victory lane since October 2008, so a couple of frustrating winless strings came to an end.

The victory also came at an odd time. Shell/Pennzoil, the team’s sponsor, announced recently that it will move to Penske Racing next season, leaving RCR without a sponsor for the No. 29 team. Additionally, Harvick is in the final year of his driving contract with RCR and is undecided about his plans for 2011.

“This is a great win for Kevin and myself,” said team owner Richard Childress. “You know, we’ve had good cars. I think we won the Daytona 500 or 499 or whatever it was and the Daytona 510; we just didn’t win the Daytona 520. We’ve been right there. We had a good shot at California, and we got the cars running good.

“I feel really good about everything the 29 team has going right now. We want to win that championship.”

Harvick jumped two positions in points to second and is 26 behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

LINK> UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: Aaron's 499 - TALLADEGA

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame Grand Opening is set for May 11, 2010. Outdoor Opening Ceremonies are May 11th from 9 to 10 am ET free of charge, open to the public. Outdoor festivities including driver appearances and concerts May 11th from 10 am until 8 pm ET open to the public, free of charge. Tickets to enter the NASCAR Hall of Fame are on sale now at www.NASCARHall.com or by calling 877-231-2010. The countdown to the NASCAR Hall of Fame is on! Visit www.NASCARHall.com/50days for daily updates about the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
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